Winter brings with it a different kind of beauty. A dramatic quality of light when the sun is low in the sky.
a snow fairy came
and bleached all the colours
from a Yorkshire sky
on a snowy night
early morning tree
looks forward to sharing
the rest of its fruit
on a misty morning
A coolness wrapped around both the trees and the moon with vibrant energy exploding as the storms raged. Calm before and chaos later.
SLEEPING EARTH
There is a faint heartbeat in the winter garden – everything alive but sleeping.
A period of rest and regeneration when there is more dark than light; more cold than warmth.
Everything storing up energy ready for a spring rebirth.
torn paper moorland
mysterious and misty
flowers made of clouds
signs of new plant life
awakening at sunrise
clouds made of flowers
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THE YELLOW ROWAN TREE – a story written for national story telling week, 2022
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Once upon a time there was a lovely Yellow Rowan tree. It had berries that were as yellow as a daffodil and bright as the sun. Each year the male blackbird looked forward to eating the juicy fruits but he became very greedy and wanted to keep them all for himself.
One night the tree decided to teach the blackbird a lesson and invited a flock of starlings to its branches to eat all of the berries.
When the blackbird woke at dawn all the berries had gone and he was very hungry.
Then he heard the song of a female blackbird sitting in another Rowan tree.
Her song told him that her tree would share its fruits with him and that her berries
were as red as a poppy and bright as a star.
They ate their berries by the light of the moon and
lived happily ever after.
THE END
FISHY TALES
The Embryo Fish –
I began my life inside a tiny egg where I ate what I had been given.
As an embryo fish I find my own food but avoid being eaten by everything else.
At first we were many and swam with the tide,
then we became dinner for others so now we are few.
Although I look forward to being grown up, when I can lay eggs of my own,
I wonder what kind of fish my children will be
because I don’t yet know what I am myself.
fish and ocean
symbiotic energy
deeply interfused
travelling alone
in a camouflaged sea
I find my true self
A school of fish listening to the echoes of tales long told and the haunting mermaid’s song, wish that the stories would never end……..
A mermaid sat on a craggy rock
combing her long silken hair
and the mournful words from her siren song
told the sailor to beware.
“Sail on, sail on my bonnie lad
by the light of the silvery moon
do not look into my flashing eyes
or your life will be over soon.
Beneath my feet are eddies deep
and rocks as sharp as a knife
make haste towards a fairer shore
for I can never be your wife.”
(written with some of the flavour of a traditional sea shanty)
STORM
a moody moorland
cradles water, ferns and stone
with anxious caring
within each snowflake
lies a tiny mandala
of silent beauty
MANDALA CRANES – political storms
cranes gathering: people rising
winds follow the tiger
now is the time for change
“An arrogant dragon will have cause to repent”
When a man seeks to climb so high that he looses touch with the rest of mankind, he becomes isolated, and this necessarily leads to failure.
(I.Ching wisdom; I Ch’ien/The Creative)
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2023
RAVEN brings in the new year
sad eyed raven
grieves for the year that has gone
and the shadows cast
new dawn brings contemplation
of hidden light emerging
as grass bends with the wind
